THE RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE 141 



pairs were turned down in the neighbourhood of 

 Windsor. For some reason or other this effort met 

 with poor success, and it was not till 1770, or there- 

 about, that the successful acclimatization of the red- 

 legged partridge in England may be said to have 

 commenced. In that year the Marquis of Hertford 

 and Lord Rendlesham each procured eggs of the red- 

 legged partridge from the Continent, the young birds 

 from which, hatched out under domestic fowls, were 

 turned down in Suffolk. From that time onward, 

 and more particularly after further importations by 

 Lords Alvanley and De Ros in 1824, red-legged 

 partridges obtained a firm foothold in Eastern England, 

 and gradually spread themselves over the adjacent 

 counties. 



The red-legged partridge, with its red beak and legs, 

 black gorget, warm, umber-brown upper parts, and, 

 transverse barrings of delicate pearl-grey, white, black 

 and fawn on sides, flanks, and thighs is a strikingly 

 handsome creature. It forms a most distinctive and 

 pleasing addition to the little-varying game-bag of the 

 September sportsman in several eastern and southern 

 counties of England. It exceeds our grey bird in 

 length about one inch, and it is also considerably 

 heavier, several red-legs of ov&r 20 oz. having being- 

 shot. The heaviest recorded weight for a red-legged 

 partridge, so far as I am aware, is one of 25 oz., 

 killed at Hanworth in Norfolk. 



The opinion was formerly held that the red-legs 

 were quarrelsome neighbours, and that, being stronger 

 than our native partridges, they drove the latter about 

 in the nesting season. Instances may not be wanting 

 where this may have occurred, still, it is probably far 



